Pigs' Rally Comes Up Short, Fall 5-3

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (12-26) mounted a rally, but came up short in a 5-3 loss to the Rochester Red Wings (20-16) on Sunday afternoon.

There was a scary moment in the bottom of the third as IronPigs starter David Buchanan (2.1 IP, 4 H, BB, K) appeared to twist his right leg while fielding a groundball down the first base line and was carted off with the injury.

Rochester took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the fourth as Wilkin Ramirez and Ryan Wheeler started the inning with back-to-back singles before Nate Hanson plated Ramirez with an RBI single to deliver the game's first run.

The Red Wings opened up a 5-0 advantage with a four-run fifth against Pigs LHP Adam Loewen. James Beresford drew a leadoff walk in the inning, moved to second on a hit by pitch and scored on Josmil Pinto's RBI single for the first run of the frame. Two batters later, Ramirez plated Pinto with a sac fly. Wheeler drove home the final two runs of the inning with a two-run double into the right centerfield gap to open up the 5-0 lead.

Loewen-who came on in relief of Buchanan-was dealt the loss as he allowed all five runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 1.2 IP. The southpaw drops to 1-2 on the season.

The IronPigs got a run back in the top of the sixth as John Hester got on base with a one-out double and scored on Chase d'Arnaud's (3-4, RBI, R) RBI single to right to cut the lead to 5-1.

The Pigs mustered just that one run against Red Wings starter Taylor Rogers (3-2) who picked up the win as he gave up one run on four hits to go along with four strikeouts over six innings of work.

Lehigh Valley was able to cut the deficit to 5-3 with a pair of runs in the eighth as they loaded the bases with one out before Russ Canzler brought home a run with a sac fly and Brian Bogusevic (1-3, RBI) delivered an RBI single.

RHP A.J. Achter (1.0 IP) tossed a scoreless ninth to notch his fourth save of the season for the Red Wings.

RHP Jason Berken (3.0 IP, 3 H, BB, 3 K) and RHP Colton Murray (1.0 IP, K) combined to toss four scoreless innings out of the bullpen for the IronPigs.

Manager Dave Brundage's squad will continue their road trip when they head to Syracuse to take on the Chiefs in the first game of a three-game series beginning Monday night at 7:05 p.m. RHP Phillippe Aumont (1-1, 1.36) gets the ball for the Pigs while RHP Taylor Jordan (1-2, 2.45) goes for Syracuse.